Letters from America

Preface

. This book consists of a series of Letters which I wrote to Morning Light. The first thirteen were actually written "from America." The rest were written since my return home, as I have explained at page 164. In the spring of the year 1879, an exchange of pulpits was arranged for between the Rev. F. H. Hemperley, who was at that time the minister of the Society at Providence, R.I., and myself. This exchange was first proposed, and was afterwards arranged for, by my venerable friend the Rev. C. A. Dunham, of Riverhead, L.I., to whom I shall ever feel deeply grateful on that account. This exchange of pulpits, which was for a period of three months, was the occasion of my visit to America, and the consequent writing of the following " Letters." I desire it to be understood that this book professes to be nothing more than a series of familiar letters written to my New Church friends (and in this designa tion I here include all members of the New Church) in England and Scotland.

PREFACE.

. The first seven Letters were reprinted from Morning Light for this book before I had had an opportunity of seeing them in type. A few unimportant typographi cal errors have therefore occurred in this portion of the book, such as " imperfected," for " unperfected," on p. 7 ; " But at sea," for " Out at sea," on p. 12 ; " aluminum," for "aluminium," on p. 20; "yesterday," for "yester day's," on p. 27 ; and "bower," for "tower," on p. 58. Of more consequence than these typographical errors are a few errors of fact which I have unintentionally perpetrated, and which I will now proceed to correct. First and foremost, I say on p. 217, that "a chip-munk is a kind of pretty little squirrel without a tail." I should have said, " without the ordinary bushy and con spicuous tail of a squirrel." The chip-munk has quite a considerable tail, and I heartily beg its pardon for having conveyed a contrary impression.

On p. 238, I say that " the first American spinning jenny and cotton-loom were setup at Providence." The first cotton spun in America was spun at Pawtucket, which is a town four miles distant from Providence, and the old wooden mill in which this important event took place is still standing there, on the rocks at the

PREFACE.

. V river-side, just above the water-fall mentioned in my Pawtucket " Letter." The next mistake I have made is of no consequence except for the sake of the truth, which is always of consequence. I say, on p. 242, that the engine of the Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Company was made by the Corliss Steam-Engine Company. It was made according to their patents, and is really therefore a " Corliss engine," but it was made by another firm at Providence. Lastly, on p. 259, I have spoken of the expression " I want to know " as if it were used by the Americans generally. This singular expression is really however characteristic only of the "Yankees," that is, the New Englanders, and of course not even of them generally. I only remember to have heard two New Church people make use of it, but the use they made of it was great.

I know of no other statement in the book that is calculated to convey a wrong impression, but I can scarcely hope that there isn't any. It is a most difficult thing to visit America, and very few people have ever done it. It is of course a still more difficult thing to describe America. This book makes no pretension of that kind. The most that any ordinary visitor in America can do VI

PREFACE.

. is to visit a relatively small portion of the great world that is called the United States of America. In the course of the book I have tried to guard my readers against supposing that I was describing America, and I have tried to remember the same thing myself. But I fear that in some cases I may have succumbed to the temptation to " generalize " without sufficient grounds. I don't actually know of any such cases, or I should here refer to and correct them, but I shouldn't be surprised if there were such cases. All that I can now say further is, that I have honestly, steadily, and industriously tried to speak the truth. CONTENTS.

The Schools, ...... 284